Horseheads' Maddie Rogers makes it back-to-back no-hitters

Horseheads' Maddie Rogers pitched a no-hitter in a 9-0 win over Vestal on April 30, 2019, a day after tossing a perfect game in 13-0 win over Elmira.
Andrew Legare, alegare@stargazette.com | @SGAndrewLegare

Maddie Rogers of Horseheads delivers a pitch against Vestal on her way to a no-hitter April 30, 2019 at Horseheads Middle School.(Photo: Andrew Legare / Staff photo)

Rogers struck out eight, walked one and hit a batter. Three Vestal batters reached on infield errors, including Lexi Kalogris with two outs in the seventh inning. Rogers came back to end the game with a strikeout on her 103rd pitch of the day.

Horseheads improved to 10-1. The Blue Raiders are ranked eighth in the state in Class AA by the New York State Sportswriters Association.

The reaction after the final out was relatively low key for Rogers.

"I was just happy we got three outs. I wasn’t thinking about (the no-hitter) really," she said.

She gave much of the credit for the consecutive no-hitters to the players behind her, though Rogers fielded her position well Tuesday to make things easier on herself.

"I have a great defense behind me who can field," she said when asked about the no-hitters.

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Maddie Rogers, left, huddles with teammates on her way to a no-hitter against Vestal on April 30, 2019 at the Horseheads Middle School field.(Photo: Andrew Legare / Staff photo)

Monday's perfect game was an unusual situation. Horseheads ended the contest at the plate in the bottom of the sixth inning because of the 12-run rule.

"I thought I was going to have to go out again. I didn’t know we were done at six innings," Rogers said.

The celebration afterward was simple yet special.

"My team hugged me. I just hugged them back," said Rogers, whose team gave her a cheer while breaking the post-game huddle following Tuesday's game.

In terms of her pitching Tuesday, she said her spins were working well.

"I think her spin pitches are working a lot better and she has a really good rise-ball, which really helps," Horseheads shortstop Kendal Cook said.

Rogers retired the first 11 batters Tuesday before a hard-hit ball just to Cook's left was booted for an error. On the next play, Blue Raiders second baseman Kellie Zoerb made a diving stop and threw to first baseman Tess Cites from the ground for the third out.

Abby Packard of Horseheads calls for time after safely sliding into third base as Vestal third baseman Emerson Wong applies the tag April 30, 2019 at the Horseheads Middle School field. Andrew Legare / Staff photo

The other Horseheads error came in the sixth inning when a hard grounder went through the legs of third baseman Abby Packard. Vestal loaded the bases that inning with a walk and hit batter before Rogers induced a pop-up to Olivia Evans, the second baseman, to end the threat.

Kalogris hit a soft, in-between liner to Evans on the third error. Evans was unable to come up with the catch and threw wildly to first on what would have been a bang-bang play after tracking down the ball.

"I would have given her the hit if I thought it was a hit, but it was not a hit," Horseheads head coach Al Falkowski said. "It was basically one she should have just caught or even threw her out at first. She had two chances to make that play."

Dating back to a 17-1 win over Ithaca on April 24 in which Rogers pitched the first two innings, she has now tossed 15 consecutive no-hit innings.

"I feel like I’m getting better as (the season) goes along," said Rogers, who is in her second varsity season. "I’m just getting more comfortable on the mound. I just know what pitches to throw now more, what works for me."

It helps having Sara (Surosky) Blauvelt on the coaching staff helping to call pitches. Blauvelt won 68 career games at Horseheads and was Class A Co-Player of the Year in New York state in 2003.

Falkowski said the recent improvement from Rogers is obvious, with the Raiders' trip to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, helping the process.

"She’s definitely buckled down and started working harder on some of her pitches she needed to work on," Falkowski said. "Down in Myrtle Beach, we had a discussion on that. It just went like a light bulb came on. She just started working on things and drastic improvement."

With a tough road game at Maine-Endwell scheduled for May 1, Falkowski said ideally he would have given Rogers some rest leading up to Wednesday's game. But it's tough to take out a pitcher who is working on a special achievement.

"It was like, ‘Do I take her out of a no-hitter or do I leave her in,’" Falkowski said. "I had to leave her in there. It works out. She’s played a lot of club ball and pitched a lot of club ball. She’s done back-to-back-to-back games before, so it's not the end of the world. I would have liked to have given her a break today, but so be it."

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Maddie Rogers delivers a pitch for Horseheads on the way to a no-hitter April 30, 2019 at the Horseheads Middle School field.(Photo: Andrew Legare / Staff photo)

Horseheads' explosive offense was its typical self Tuesday, though Vestal made some sparkling plays defensively to help keep the total down.

Abby Packard was 2-for-2 with a double and four RBIs for Horseheads. Erin Gill was 2-for-4 with a double and two RBIs, Emma Loomis was 2-for-4 with two runs, and Cook was 2-for-3 with two runs, a double and an RBI.

With that prolific offense, Rogers on the mound and a defense with plenty of ability, Horseheads is out in front as it chases the program's eighth consecutive Southern Tier Athletic Conference West title and a second straight Section 4 Class AA crown.

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Abby Packard of Horseheads calls for time after safely sliding into third base as Vestal third baseman Emerson Wong applies the tag April 30, 2019 at the Horseheads Middle School field.(Photo: Andrew Legare / Staff photo)

Rogers said it gives her confidence knowing the offense can put up plenty of crooked numbers. Defense, though, could end up deciding how far the Blue Raiders go this season.

"Defense wins games. That’s it," Falkowski said. "That’s going to be everything. Our defense, yeah, we’re making mistakes here and there, but overall we’re a pretty quick defense, tough to bunt on. We just keep working on that stuff. We’re making more errors than we need to make. When we start getting into the tighter games – I know they’re coming – we’ve got to get better at that."